Life Is Good...Even In The Rain!

Monsoon season has officially hit! It started to rain a little bit here and there last week, but now it pours everyday! The weather has also cooled down, but it is still warm. The only problem is...it has really been effecting some of our plans! I tried to take pictures from inside the car during the storm, but it is impossible! Here are some googled images of the level of water we have seen on the street and on the freeway. I'm also adding a video from our drive on the freeway, but you can't really tell how hard it is raining. It is hilarious to see the women side-saddle holding umbrellas! Men on motorcycles wear "rain suits" which is like a rain jacket for the entire body over their work clothes.

We planned to go to Colaba on Saturday and see the Elephanta Caves, Gateway of India, and go shopping, but the rain was so bad that we had to have our driver turn around and take us back to Powai. We ended up going to R City Mall to hang out, which was very different than the malls I'm used to! We tried to do some shopping but most of the shops had traditional Indian clothing or really unfashionable, poorly made, overpriced clothing. One store was really cute, ONLY, but way over priced! We were laughing because it was literally the ONLY store in the mall with anything we would like. They also have lots of entertainment throughout the mall...mini ice skating rinks, bungee jumping (for kids, but I almost did it), zip lines, etc. I also enjoyed some Baskin Robins ice cream!! We went to the Rainforest Restaurant (almost identical to the Rainforest Cafe except without animals and it wasn't as kid friendly). It had Indian, Italian, and Chinese food and it was great! It was very dark and had black lights across the ceiling creating a cool atmosphere.

The girls went to the theatre in the mall on Friday night. They said that it was really interesting because the previews were in the middle of the movie during intermission! The Indian movies are so long that they usually have an intermission. They also come around asking your for tea and coffee during intermission, just like in the office at work. Also, when you buy your tickets, the price depends on the seats you choose.

Saturday night when the rain stopped Rianne and I drove to South Mumbai again to go to meet up with some friends. We met up at the Mittal's house. Mr. Mittal is the Chairman of the Board and Mrs. Mittal is the Joint Managing Director for Arshiya International (the company I'm interning at), and we have been hanging out with their son Ananya. They were so welcoming and their place was incredible. It was great to finally meet them! We went to the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower for dinner at Souk, a Lebanese restaurant.

The hotel was as beautiful as all the travel books described it. Souk was right across from the Gateway of India and had an incredible view of the city because it was on the 20th floor. We had 15 people in our group, and around 12 people were from Brown- it is crazy how many Brown students we have run into here in Mumbai! After dinner we went to Arshiya's birthday party (Ananya's sister) and then went to the club we went to last weekend, Prive. It was a great night!

This morning Rianne and I decided to take matters into our own hands and go to the grocery store for our cook. We walked to Haiko (the Indian version of Whole Foods) from our apartment in the rain in our flip flops (which almost got washed away many times) with umbrellas. It was our first time on our own in Powai. After walking through town, we arrived at Haiko and we were in heaven! Most of the food we have in the US was there! We got all sorts of fruit, vegetables, oreos, rice krispies and marshmallows for homemade rice krispies, ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies, chips, pasta sauce and noodles, spinach, oatmeal, peanut butter, granola bars, and more! When we showed our cook, he looked so confused because he doesn't know brand names. We rode in our first rickshaw home which was so fun- we will definitely take more rides in them another time!

We made Rice Krispy treats today! Our cook thinks we are hilarious because we have only been eating eggs, peanut butter toast, fruit, and picking at what he makes. Tonight will be a learning experience though, we are going to teach him how to make fresh vegetables with JUST butter, salt and pepper. No curry, no spices, no sauce.